Temsco Airlines de Havilland DHC-2 accident
de Havilland DHC-2 and West Flight Aviation de Havilland DHC-2 · Accident: loss of control on ground/water while taxiing
Event
- NTSB case
- SEA86LA049
- Event typeAccident: someone killed or seriously injured, or the aircraft substantially damaged (NTSB definition). Incident: an occurrence that affected or could have affected safety, short of that. Glossary
- Accident
- InvestigationHow far the investigation had got when the record was published: preliminary, ongoing, final or completed. Unknown where the source does not say. Glossary
- Completed
- API-reported fatalities
- 0 · all aircraft and ground
- Ground fatalities
- 0
- OperationWhat kind of flying it was, grouped by the rules it flew under: airline (US Part 121), air taxi and commuter (Part 135), general aviation (Part 91 and similar), military or government. Glossary
- Charter & commuter
- WeatherVisual meteorological conditions (VMC): good enough to fly by looking outside. Instrument conditions (IMC): cloud or low visibility, flying by instruments. Glossary
- Visual Meteorological Cond
Aircraft 1 · de Havilland DHC-2
- Aircraft type
- de Havilland DHC-2
- Category
- Airplane
- RegistrationThe aircraft's tail number, such as N12345 or G-ABCD. Registrations are reissued, so the same one years apart can be a different aircraft. Glossary
- N127WA
- Operator
- Temsco Airlines
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Ketchikan International Airport (KTN), Ketchikan, AKTo Metlakatla Seaplane Base (MTM), Metlakatla, AK
- Aircraft age
- Not recorded
- Flight rulesThe regulations the flight operated under: in the US, Part 91 (general aviation), Part 121 (airlines), Part 135 (air taxi and commuter) and others; for flights abroad, the NTSB's coarser commercial or non-commercial code. Glossary
- Part 135: Air Taxi & Commuter
- Phase of flightThe stage of the flight when things started to go wrong: standing, taxi, takeoff, initial climb, en route, maneuvering, approach or landing. Glossary
- Taxi
- First occurrenceThe single coded event the NTSB judges best describes what happened (records from 2008 on). Older records name the first occurrence in the sequence instead. Glossary
- Loss of control on ground/water
- DamageDestroyed: beyond practical repair. Substantial: damage that affects the structure, performance or handling and normally needs major repair. Minor: less than that. Glossary
- Substantial
Aircraft 2 · de Havilland DHC-2
- Aircraft type
- de Havilland DHC-2
- Category
- Airplane
- RegistrationThe aircraft's tail number, such as N12345 or G-ABCD. Registrations are reissued, so the same one years apart can be a different aircraft. Glossary
- N1018H
- Operator
- West Flight Aviation
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Ketchikan International Airport (KTN), Ketchikan, AKTo Metlakatla Seaplane Base (MTM), Metlakatla, AK
- Aircraft age
- Not recorded
- Flight rulesThe regulations the flight operated under: in the US, Part 91 (general aviation), Part 121 (airlines), Part 135 (air taxi and commuter) and others; for flights abroad, the NTSB's coarser commercial or non-commercial code. Glossary
- Part 135: Air Taxi & Commuter
- Phase of flightThe stage of the flight when things started to go wrong: standing, taxi, takeoff, initial climb, en route, maneuvering, approach or landing. Glossary
- Taxi
- First occurrenceThe single coded event the NTSB judges best describes what happened (records from 2008 on). Older records name the first occurrence in the sequence instead. Glossary
- Loss of control on ground/water
- DamageDestroyed: beyond practical repair. Substantial: damage that affects the structure, performance or handling and normally needs major repair. Minor: less than that. Glossary
- Minor
Cause areas
- Ground personnel › Proper assistance, not performed
- Pilot in command › Compensation for wind conditions, not possible
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
WIND WAS 070 DEGREES AT 20 KTS WITH 6-12 INCH SWEELS. N127WA WAS POSITIONED AT NORTH SIDE OF DOCK FOR DEPARTURE TOWARD EAST. N1018H WAS HOLDING AT EAST SIDE OF DOCK. DECK HAND CAST OFF N127WA BEFORE PLT STARTED ENGINE; ACFT BEGAN TO DRIFT BACK INTO DOCK. PLT STARTED ENG, ATTEMPTED TO MANEUVER AWAY FROM DOCK, BUT DOCK PROXIMITY PROHIBITED USE OF SUFFICIENT POWER TO ESTABLISH STEERAGEWAY UNDER EXISTING WEATHER CONDITIONS. N127WA DRIFTED AROUND NORTHEAST CORNER OF DOCK AND INTO N1018H. N127WA SUSTAINED SUBSTANTIAL DAMAGE AND PLT SHUT DOWN ENG. N1018H SUSTAINED MINOR DAMAGE, PLT TAXIED CLEAR. N127WA DRIFTED BACK INTO EAST SIDE OF DOCK, SUSTAINED FURTHER DAMAGE FROM WIND AND WAVE ACTION.
Verbatim NTSB analysis from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record SEA86LA049
- Event ID
- 20010110X00273
- Case number
- SEA86LA049
- Dataset
- historical-pre2008
- Source SHA-256
- 89e2df6d848e7ab3b42e7d7c7a03ff403303057a26ca04c95b3ea67201c3ce74
Source notes (4)
- Unreviewed is an editorial label, not an investigation status. API-sourced is not report-checked or human-reviewed. Explicit event totals are used without summing aircraft injury tables; onboard allocation is withheld. Unknown values remain unknown. The operation category is mapped from the NTSB-reported FAR part and has not been reviewed.
- Filled from the NTSB case API where the bulk record had no value: investigation status. Values present in the bulk record are kept.
- The date is the local date, which is the same as the UTC date the NTSB stores.
- API snapshot SHA-256: ae4dd41f2739806c579cacfec55c767d0f4ad8cf554b7a453419f8956bbe7c64; retrieved 2026-09-18T20:08:49.768Z.